`Boca Heat' Becomes Upbeat

COMMUNITY SAFETY

Cable-tv Show Offers Live Coverage Of Events, Tips On Safety

July 27, 1994|By LISA J. HURIASH Staff Writer

BOCA RATON — It's with fast action and music that the Boca Raton Fire Department hopes to capture the attention of people with cable television. Boca Heat is the television program intended to entertain and educate.

Boca Raton television/video production specialist Aaron Oatley said 25,000 homes or apartments are able to receive the cable signal.

The program includes shots of live fires - and staged ones, like the one firefighter Jim Pingrey started in his own kitchen with alcohol and a match. He also started one in his barbecue grill with grease and a match.

The purpose was to demonstrate how to prevent fires from speading by covering the pot or grill with a lid if the fire starts on the stove or grill, or by shutting the door if it starts in the oven.

The goal is to take away the oxygen that feeds the flames and causes the fire to spread.

It's all in the name of education.

"We want to inform the public" about fire safety, Pingrey said.

That's just one scene of the 15-minute to half-hour program broadcast twice daily on Channel 20, the city government access television station.

Each show runs for two weeks before a new one is produced.

The program is 3 years old, but show founder firefighter/paramedic Mike Debrecht said the format recently changed, from a standard interview-style show to live coverage, music, fast action and "Hot Tips."

Debrecht said live shots include foot age of drownings, car-accident scenes and the Trauma Hawk helicopter in action. Graphic and personal scenes are eliminated.

"We changed the format because af ter reviewing the old stuff we saw it was a little boring," said firefighter/ para medic Frank Correggio. "It's now more appealing to everyone. It's high-tech editing that's upbeat."

Boca Heat is broadcast at 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day. Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue also has television programs, twice a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The 8 a.m. program, Dual-Lines, is geared toward training and motivating firefighters and paramedics. FireNet at 7 p.m. is geared toward the public.

The programs can be picked up on county programming, usually Channel 20 or 24.

Oatley said Boca Raton does not re ceive the county program, but most oth er cities do.

"We want to educate and inform the public," Correggio said.

"And entertain," Debrecht added. "We know children are watching and we want them to learn about fire safety."

"Unless you've ever had a medical emergency, you don't know what we do," Correggio said. "People think we take cats out of trees and play checkers; that's not what we do. We show how we handle hazardous materials, rescues and show our advanced life-support system.

"We want to show people what their taxes are paying for."

To give them some idea, a show with the theme "A Day at the Fire Station" is scheduled to be broadcast in mid-August.

And as for firefighter Pingrey, he says he has no plans to become an actor.

He said he is trying to talk some of the other 151 firefighters "to be in front of the camera. I like doing the shooting," he said.